


Of Flowers and Notes

by asianfrustration13



Category: The Black Tapes Podcast
Genre: Flowers, Gen, Guys look!, Minor Flower Language, Post-it Notes, There's only a little angst, i wrote fluff, just a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 12:05:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6328216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asianfrustration13/pseuds/asianfrustration13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During her break, Alex gets a secret admirer. Based on the Tumblr prompt of "The ways you said 'I love you' on a post-it note."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Flowers and Notes

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the tumblr prompt by E-Salvatore:  The ways you said 'I love you' on a post-it note  Thanks for the prompt and I hope you guys enjoy my attempt at writing fluff!

Alex groaned unhappily from her laying position on her couch. It’s been only a few days since the beginning of her mandatory sabbatical and already she was starting to lose her mind, metaphorically speaking of course.

She already cleaned her entire apartment – kitchen, guest room, bedroom, bathroom, living room. Hell, she even cleaned her damn closets too. Any old shirts and pants in moderately good condition were donated to the Salvation Army, same with her shoes as well. She did her laundry and her dishes, forgoing the dish washer to hopefully make time fly faster. She already organized all her notes, at least the ones she was able to smuggle out of the PNWS offices, and had a to-do list for when she returned. She even composed a list of possible references to use when pursuing her work. Multiple naps were already taken and she even began to do yoga to pass the time. In her rush to pass time, she did so many things that she pretty much had nothing left to do.

On the plus side, the shadows have disappeared.

However, an idle Alex is an unhappy Alex and right now, Alex was both idle and unhappy. She grew up always doing something, be it schoolwork or work or even household chores. All of her friends were working at this time, she wasn’t even allowed to go visit the station either.

“Maybe I should go pay Mom a visit?” Alex mused aloud as she stared at the ceiling. “I can take her on a trip to California to visit Aunt Mabel and Uncle Henry and the kids.”

The shrill ringing of her cell phone across the living room caught Alex’s attention. On and on it went, Alex debating whether or not she should get up from her already comfortable position. On one hand, it was something to do. On the other hand, she was already settled down. She eventually decided on letting the phone go to voicemail before closing her eyes and trying to take another nap.

 Unfortunately, whoever was calling Alex had other plans. Instead of hearing the familiar chime telling her a voicemail was left, the phone began to ring once more. The ringtone, however, was different. This time, the lyrics to the Ghostbusters theme began to play.

Alex, already falling asleep, scrambled to get out of her blanket-cocoon on her couch. She fell off, gracefully if anyone asked, and landed on the floor with a quiet thud and a hiss of pain. As she fought her way out of the blanket, her cell phone let out a chime for voicemail. Alex then stopped struggling before letting out another groan.

“I’m really going to hear it from Strand later, huh?” she asked no one. Eventually, the blankets came off and Alex was able cross the living room to pick up her phone and look at what it had to say.

The first missed call was from an unknown number and the second was from Strand. The new voicemail was also going to be from Strand and there was the unopened text message from Nic the night before. Alex unlocked her phone to listen to her voicemail.

“Hello, Ms. Reagan. It’s Richard Strand,” the message began. “I received a call from Nic informing me about your sabbatical. I just wanted to let you know that I am willing to respect your leave unless necessary. And by necessary, I mean extremely so.” There was a pause. “Don’t think I stopped listening to the podcast, Alex. It’s obvious you need your rest. Take care, Alex. Bye.”

Alex frowned before deleting the message. While she was happy that Strand was willing to talk to her after her recently questionable journalistic ethics, she was also depending on him to keep her busy during her break. She had already done as much research as she could on Daeva Corp, but the limited access she had to her resources severely hindered her efforts.

Rolling her neck, she began to pick up her blanket off the floor before heading to her bedroom. Alex quickly threw on a jacket and a beanie to get ready to go out for a run. Some exercise should be a good change of pace, right? Maybe she could make it a habit before going back to work in April, God knew her doctor keeps hounding her to be more active.

She was so focused on getting out of her apartment to go on her run that she nearly missed the vase of flowers at her doorstep. It was a small thing, just a couple of azaleas in a thin glass vase with a post-it tucked into the vase. “143. Take care of yourself,” it read in hastily written cursive.

The note brought a smile to Alex’s face as she picked up the vase and brought it to her kitchen. She added a bit of water to the vase before placing it aside on her counter. There was no real indication of who wrote the note – she didn’t recognize the handwriting. She didn’t even really recognize what the flowers were, but they were still beautiful nonetheless.

* * *

 

After that, Alex received flowers twice a week she was gone. Each time brought different flowers with different accompanying notes. Even the handwriting on the notes were different, which threw her for a loop in her mini-investigation of who kept sending her flowers. Amalia got a kick out of it and teased her for her “secret admirer”.

“I’m sure it’s just some concerned interns sending me these flowers, nothing more,” Alex insisted as she brought in her newest vase of flowers. This time, it was a tasteful mix of Zinnias. She pulled out the post-it note from the vase and read aloud, “143. My thoughts are with you, my dearest friend.”

Amalia laughed from her perch on the kitchen stool, “Whoever is sending these notes is really something else, I’ll tell you that much.” She took a sip of her tea, closing her eyes in bliss before coughing. “Ah, too bitter.”

Alex added water to the vase as she asked, “Last week were chrysanthemums, right?”

“You deserve rest,” the Russian quoted the accompanying post-it note, leaving out the strange number that always preceded the note. Both women were still confused as to why the sender always wrote the number 143.

“Then petunias?”

“Thank you for bringing my thoughts clarity.”

“And daffodils?”

“Best regards.”

“I thought that came with the,” Alex paused, trying to remember the name of the flower, “the oleander?”

“No, that one came with the warning to be careful around strangers,” Amalia mumbled as she got up from her stool to remake her tea. “Are you going to press a flower from last week’s chrysanthemums too?”

After the second week of flower deliveries, Alex had begun to press a flower from each bunch in order to preserve the memory. She hadn’t received flowers from someone since god knows how long and she was really touched by the thought of receiving them once more. Plus, having proof to give to her mom that someone was interested in her didn’t hurt as well. It might even get her mom off her back for a few weeks about not being married.

“Yeah, might as well. Those are starting to wilt a little.” Alex sighed before scratching the back of her head. “I’m gonna go try to sleep, good night!”

“Good night,” her roommate called out as she resumed her position on her stool. “Good luck sleeping.”

Alex closed her door just as her cell phone chimed in her pocket. She pulled it out, checking her text messages. “See you in work tomorrow,” she murmured, reading Nic’s text aloud.

* * *

Strand stared back at Alex as they both stood in front of her apartment door. She had opened her door that morning, eager to leave for work, to the man awkwardly crouched down and holding a glass vase bursting with sweet peas and purple hyacinths. He had originally been staring at the vase when he heard the door open and had stood at attention, bringing the flowers with him.

“Uh,” Alex began eloquently, “good morning?”

The doctor gave her a curt nod, “Good morning, Ms. Reagan. I do believe these flowers are for you.” He held out the vase. “I found it on your doorstep and wished to look closer.”

A small smile appeared on Alex’s face. “I’m sure you did, Dr. Strand.” She eagerly took the vase, turning it this way and that before lowering it too look at the flowers from above. Unsatisfied, she held the vase with one hand and began to gently part the flowers. She found a hidden red rose in the center of the vase, buried underneath the other flowers.

“What’s the matter?” Strand asked with a frown. “Is something wrong with your flowers? Also, is it normal for people to be dropping flowers on your doorstep?”

Alex shook her head, “Nothing’s the matter and no, nothing is wrong with the flowers. I don’t exactly know who kept leaving me flowers but they usually come with a little post-it note.”

“But you can’t find it?”

With a sad shake of her head, Alex turned to go back into her apartment. “Come in, let me just get some water for these.” She walked to her kitchen, Strand following silently. As she cared for the vase of flowers, she turned towards her friend. “What are you doing here so early?”

Strand was trying not to be obvious as he looked around and failed. “I got a call from Nic that you were coming back to work today. I figured that we could carpool together and catch up on what I’ve found while you were gone.”

“Sure, that sounds like a good idea.” Alex placed the vase on her kitchen counter, satisfied with her care of the flowers. “Hey Dr. Strand, you wouldn’t happen to know-“

“Who were sending you flowers?” he offered as he stood next to her, looking at the vase.

Alex pursed her lips with amusement, “No. I was going to ask if you knew how to find out who’s been sending them? Like maybe you could take a look at the old post-it notes and see if you recognize the handwriting? It might be one of my interns, but I’m not exactly sure.”

“Of course,” Strand gave her a bland smile, “it shouldn’t take too long. I’m sure it was probably someone from PNWS.”

“Yeah, let me go get them. I’ve got them in my room on my desk.” She left the kitchen calling out that she would be right back.

With Alex gone from the room, Strand took this opportunity to reach into his pocket and take out a post-it note. It read, “143. Please forgive me. It has been a pleasure working with you, R.S.” He quickly read over the note before crumpling it and shoving it into his pocket just as Alex came back into the kitchen.

The woman grinned at him before proudly showing her little note collection to him. “Look at how sweet this person is!”

Strand took the notes in his hands before flipping through them. “This handwriting doesn’t seem too familiar, but I can’t be sure without something to compare.” He looked at Alex and asked, “Do you have some handwritten things from your interns?”

“Yep, they’re in my office.”

“Good, let’s head over to the office.” Both began to walk to her door before Strand stopped. “Do you mind if I throw a granola bar wrapper in your trash? I kind of just shoved it in my pocket on my way here.”

Alex went ahead and opened her apartment door. “Sure, it’s just right around the corner in my kitchen. On your left.”

He walked over, took the crumpled post-it note in his pocket and threw it in the trash. He also threw away some actual granola wrappers, the remainders of his breakfast that morning.

As he walked back to the door, Alex told him point blank that she would make sure he got a proper breakfast by the time they got to the station. Strand only laughed softly, amused by her mother hen tactics.

Closing her door behind her and following Strand, Alex couldn’t help but be glad that everything was back to normal. Maybe, she thought as she climbed into Strand’s car, everything will be better now.

She didn’t notice the shadow that seemed to follow them as they drove away from her apartment.

**Author's Note:**

> Hint-Hint: 143 = I love you.


End file.
